Good Hunting
by Witch4
Summary: Annie gets a new assignment.  Takes place during season 1.  Rating changed for language.
1. Good Hunting

Good Hunting

Summary: Annie gets a new assignment: Hunt down Max. Companion piece to "August" in the Losers archive.

Author's Note: I don't own any of the characters, I wish I did, and so on and so forth.

"Who's Max?" Annie Walker asked as she walked into the DPD's Tech Ops.

"Which Max are we talking about: Max in tech, Max in accounting, Max in-"

"Max, the operative that apparently went off the rails last year after the Bolivia tragedy and who Joan and Arthur have both tasked me with finding."

"Oh, that Max! Yeah, that Max is a psychopath that ruined the lives, deaths, and names of some very good men."

"Auggie."

"Yes?"

"Who's Max."

Auggie Anderson, head of the Domestic Protection Division's tech ops, closed his eyes and sighed before turning to face (he hoped) his friend and opened his eyes again, focusing his blind stare on the junior operative.

"Max is an agency codename for the most sadistic, sociopathic operatives the CIA has ever seen. You've heard of the agents called Lynch?" Annie gave a quiet "Yes."

"Well, Max is worse. And this particular Max decided that he wanted to start World War 3 by destroying entire islands. Remember what happened at the Port of Los Angeles last year? When that plane blew up in the yard? Well, Max was, at least in part, responsible for what happened."

"In part?"

"Yeah. Remember the Spec Ops team that was blamed for the Bolivia mission last year?"

"They died along with the helicopter crew and 25 children."

"Yeah, well, they didn't die. They went after Max because he was responsible and he burned them. And then they went off the grid. I occasionally pick up chatter concerning them, mostly the places they rob or destroy, but from what I can tell, they're still looking for him."

"How are they still alive?"

"They're the Losers and they are very hard to kill."

"Wait, the Losers? Isn't that the team you were with when the Agency recruited you?"

"Yep. And if you want to find Max, it might be best if you contacted them." Auggie handed her a card with a number on it. "That's a disposable number. Call it and tell them that Auggie says they owe me a bottle of Patrón and a night with Candy; they'll know you're good." Auggie turned back to his computer, put his headphones on, and resumed his previous activity.

"Oh, and Annie? Good hunting."

Annie smiled at his back before turning and leaving Tech Ops. She made a detour to her desk, picking up her encrypted phone, before heading out of the DPD, her thoughts on how she would broach the subject of Max with her friend's former team. She turned towards a pair of double glass doors that led to the balcony and fountain she always seemed to find herself at when she needed to think. This time, though, she would be hiding out and making a somewhat illicit call to a group of men that the world believed dead.

Carefully ensconcing herself in a corner of the balcony that hid her from view, she dialed the number that Auggie had given her. The other end rang twice before a man answered.

"H'lo?"

"Hi, I'm assuming this is one of the Losers. Please don't hang up. Auggie gave me this number and he says that you guys owe him a bottle of Patrón and a night with Candy."

The man on the other end of the call hmm'd before answering. "This is Colonel Clay. Who are you, what do you want, and how do you know Auggie?"

Annie smiled. Auggie had been right about his former CO being just a little bit gruff when talking to new people. "My name is Annie, and I've been tasked with finding Max. Auggie thought you'd appreciate the heads-up."

They talked for a few more minutes about what might be going on before agreeing to help each other, surreptitiously of course, find and kill/prosecute (it didn't matter which) the man known only as Max.

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><p>So, that's it. Please review! It feeds a writer's soul.<p> 


	2. The Meeting

Chapter 2 – The Meeting

A/N: Okay, so this chapter is more Losers than Covert Affairs, but I'll try to post the whole story in cross-overs later. And thank you for the reviews! Enjoy!

"So, who is this chick?"

"I thought you were the 'Greatest Fucking Hacker of the Whole Ginormous World'?" Aisha asked the blonde man walking behind her.

Jensen blushed a bit before answering. "Yeah, but notice how I didn't say 'Biggest Fucking Idiot.' See, while I _could_ hack into the Agency's personnel files, I don't because I'm not crazy!"

Aisha raised her pierced eyebrow. "And yet, you're the one wearing the bright red 'Ninja Hunter' shirt."

Clay coughed to hide his amusement before answering, "She's an Agency operative and a friend of Auggie's. If he can vouch for her, then she's good."

"But how do we know she's not 'volatile'?" Jensen used air quotes around the word. They heard Cougar give a quiet chuckle over the comms.

"Because Candy was the only girl Clay's dated who hasn't tried to kill him," Pooch answered over the comms.

"You actually dated a non-psychopathic girl while in the Army? That's fucking amazing!" Jensen was now gesticulating wildly for emphasis.

"Yeah, well, let's just hope that Auggie was right and that this girl can help us."

Ten minutes later, the trio was seated on two benches near the Mall, the Washington Monument casting a looming shadow.

"I don't like this, being all out in the open, it's dangerous," Aisha started as they pretended to enjoy the nice Washington day.

"We agreed it would be the best place for a meeting. It's public, and the Agency won't try to kill us with so many _foreign_ civilians in the vicinity. Too much paperwork."

"That, and it's illegal for the Agency to work on American soil," Jensen added.

"That, too," Clay agreed before Cougar announced that a blonde woman was approaching them. "Looks like it's show time, people."

"You look good for the walking dead," the woman, Annie Walker, said as she got comfortable on the adjacent bench and got out a lunch.

"And you look too pretty to supposedly work for the Smithsonian," Clay quipped back. Aisha sent a glare to the tech 50 feet across the path from them while simultaneously squeezing her boyfriend/lover/sparring partner's hand painfully.

From his vantage point, Cougar saw Annie's eyes flash a look of concern over them finding out her cover for a moment before calming.

Pooch commented over the comms, "I thought Jensen said he wasn't crazy enough to hack into the CIA's personnel files." Clay coughed to let their driver know that he'd fill them in later.

Annie passed an envelope beneath the benches to Clay while pretending to have noticed her shoe was untied (a rather unfortunate incident involving running through the streets of Madrid in her trademark Louboutins had caused her to sprain her ankle and forced her to wear what some would consider sensible shoes until the injury healed). Taking the manila envelope that was poking into his calf, Clay handed it to Aisha who slid it into the large purse that she had been persuaded by Jensen to bring for the day's meeting.

"Anything we should know?" Annie asked the couple seated behind her.

"Tell her Max is a psychotic son of a bitch who is also sociopathic and needs to be put down like Wile E. Coyote when he's trying to capture Roadrunner," Jensen said.

"He's a dangerous man that your bosses should never have allowed to run free, Miss Walker," Clay told the woman behind him.

Annie gave notice that she understood before collecting her things and standing, lunch garbage firmly in her hand.

"Oh, Annie, please tell Auggie that he was always to good for Candy and that the Patrón will be on the end of his coffee table closest to the kitchen with a glass on the right side of the bottle. Thanks for the info," Clay told her before bringing his left arm around Aisha's shoulder, saving his hand and fingers from being crushed by her strong grip. A few minutes later, Cougar informed them that the CIA operative had left the area and gone down a subway entrance.

"Okay, Losers, let's wrap this up. Jensen, move your ass."

"We get what we needed?"

"Let's hope so."

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><p>TBC (I hope – please don't leave me plot bunnies!) BTW, do I have a friend who does own a bright red "Ninja Hunter" shirt.<p>

I hope you liked it!


	3. Pizza and Patrón

Chapter 3 - Pizza and Patrón

Auggie sighed as he sat on his couch and felt for the bottle of Patrón that he had been promised. Just like Annie had said, the bottle and a glass sat at the end of his coffee table on the side closest to his kitchen. As he was bringing the Patrón and bottle to the front of the table, he felt a piece of card in front of him. Picking it up, he slowly ran his fingers over the raised indentations on the card's surface:

_Captain-_

_Thanks for the intel. Tell Annie (and the Campbells since there's no way that they don't know that you've called in outside help) that we'll send what we find. Enjoy the tequila, it's your favorite. And there's some pizza in the fridge._

_-Colonel Franklin Clay._

Auggie smiled as he re-read the card. Putting it down, he went back to pouring the tequila before standing and making his way to his kitchen and the pizza that awaited him. He'd have to remember to send a bottle of Mezcal with Annie the next time she went to meet the Losers.

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><p>Okay, so that was just a short little interlude.<p> 


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